OT Booster seat

[all4fun]

Thanks again everyone. DD has an Evenflo or Graco turbo high back booster with arm rest and she really likes it. At six years old I would think that she is perfectly safe in it but after that youtube video I started thinking maybe not! I don't let her ride home from school with anyone that doesn't have an extra booster seat in their car for her. It's not convenient I know but I cannot imagine sending my "baby" unprotected!

I haven't read everyone's posts...JMO but at six yrs old and 39-40lbs she is at the bare minimums for using a booster (which is 4 AND 40). She is still safEST in a 5pt seat but she should be ok at this age in a booster too. Studies show that kids iliac crest - the hip bones - are fully mature at about age six so she should be fine in a booster now. I think it's a great plan to put her in a 5pt at least for long trips though. My ds is still under five but about her size actually was weighed and measured at the drs on Friday and he's 41lbs, 44-1/2" , and he rides in a 5pt in all cars still. We got him a Britax Regent for our car, he's using the older Britax Blvd as a secondary backup seat (but is about to outgrow that by height), and he uses an Apex65 seat in my parents car, pretty sure he's about to outgrow that one by height too.

Just make sure with the Apex that she's got plenty of growing room height wise. That seat has 17" top harness slots (the top slots are hiding under the headrest). As pp said, it also requires a tall vehicle seatback- is outgrown altogether once the tips of the ears go past the top of the vehicle seatback. Also, it makes a pretty awkward booster because of it's width. It should work fine for more stoutly built older kids but for slender kids like my ds, it just doesn't seem to hold the lower half of the seatbelt in the right place so I don't feel comfortable with it as a booster and will probably be getting ds a regular dedicated booster when he moves to that step.

Another option that is new on the market is the Graco Nautilus. That seat looks very promising. It has 18" top slots, harnesses to 65lbs, and converts to a decent looking high back booster, then converts to backless when the HB is outgrown. It sort of looks like a Turbobooster with a harness. It's new, and hard to find right now. You can see a map of "nautilus sightings" here.

hth




hth!

 

[becca011906]

Thanks again everyone. DD has an Evenflo or Graco turbo high back booster with arm rest and she really likes it. At six years old I would think that she is perfectly safe in it but after that youtube video I started thinking maybe not! I don't let her ride home from school with anyone that doesn't have an extra booster seat in their car for her. It's not convenient I know but I cannot imagine sending my "baby" unprotected!

There is alot of info on that video found at car-seat .org ... the van the child was in had GEN 3 seat blets that GM use to produce that are questionable, ect. the child was also 3 years old ... not a 6 year old child. A 5 pt harness is much safer for EVERYONE but i'm not going to go out and buy racing seats for my car so that me and my DH can be in them as well. My oldest has been in a booster since he was 4 he's big for his age, my 5 year old now has used a booster once in a while since she has been 40# (about 4 1/2). my youngest has never been in a booster and just turned ffing about 6 months ago. It's a perental choice that that age best practice is hi back booster. BETTER practice is 5pt if it turely fits your situation.